How do I go back to a world that doesn't have fireworks every night?

[solana131]

Okay, here we go. This is my first trip report after our first family trip to the World. I went many many years ago as a child and do not remember much about those trips. We never stayed onsite as a child, so that was new to me. And the last time I went was 20 years ago, so alot has changed. This was my husband and son's first time ever. Let me give you a few of the details:

When: February 4 - February 11

Who:

On the left is me, Suzi age 32 and new Disney fanatic. The right is my wonderful husband Bill age 33. He doesn't love to travel, but I think I still might turn him into a Disney lover too. And the reason for this trip in the middle is our little man, Bradey age 5. This little guy is everything to us. He is such a good boy. I know everyone thinks that of their children, but really, taking a trip like this and seeing everyone else's kids acting so horrible makes me treasure our little guy all the more. He never acts up...yep I said never. We have never had a temper tantrum in his life. Whenever we saw a cranky screaming child at Disney he would just look at them and look at us and say "what is his problem?" He just would never even think about doing some of the things we saw. Just doesn't cross his mind. He talks a little loud and we had to tell him to quite down in our room at night, but thats only because my 85 yr old grandmother takes care of him everyday and she is hard of hearing. I think his loud-ish voice comes from having to speak up around her all day. Anyway...enough bragging about Bradey.

My parents live in Cape Coral, FL for the winters and they drove up to meet us for the first few days. We stayed Sat-Sat and they were with us from Sun-Thurs. It was so great to have them share this first experience with us. And as an unbelievable Christmas present to us, they paid for 3 nights lodging and food while they were there. This allowed us to go deluxe and we got to stay....

At the Poly! It was an amazing place to have our first visit.

So please join me in reliving the Bishop's First Trip! I can't promise it will be the most exciting TR ever because I have no idea what I am doing. I just barely made it through my PTR (link in siggy). But I will try. It was a fantastic trip and I would love to share it with you.

 

[KatMark]

I'm here; can't wait to read

 

[solana131]

Yay! Kathy's here! Anyone else out there?!

 

[KatMark]

I love the intros, Suzi. You are doing great!

And the picture of the Poly makes me homesick...we've not stayed there since 2004.

 

[Chicago Mo]

I made it! LOVE the intro!

 

[DMGeurts]

Totally here! Great start! I love your family pic, can't wait to read about the rest!

D~

 

[solana131]

I love the intros, Suzi. You are doing great!

And the picture of the Poly makes me homesick...we've not stayed there since 2004.

Well I think it's time for a return trip little lady!

I made it! LOVE the intro!

Thanks. I am waiting for my PP cd to get here before I really get rolling, but I can start out with the travel day in the meantime. Welcome!

Totally here! Great start! I love your family pic, can't wait to read about the rest!

D~

Welcome! I'll get it started soon. Been busy here at work cleaning up the boss's messes

 

[jennyjinx3]

I am here too! I love the title! That pretty much sums it up about the feeling we all get when we come home. Can't wait to read more!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Joining. I am excited to see how the first timer's felt about WDW. Great resort choice too. We just got back from there in January.

 

[solana131]

I am here too! I love the title! That pretty much sums it up about the feeling we all get when we come home. Can't wait to read more!

I think that was the best thing about the Poly. Being able to watch the fireworks from the beach then 1 minute later be in bed. No crowds, no hassle. So we literally watched them every single night. Once from MK, the rest from the beach *sigh*

Joining. I am excited to see how the first timer's felt about WDW. Great resort choice too. We just got back from there in January.

How we felt about WDW? What, does anyone hate it? Of course we loved it! I think I even got DH into it a little. Well, maybe not, but he did give me an opening to return.....you'll have to wait and see

to both of you!

 

[Moodyzblu]

I'm here !!

This is one trip I'm looking forward to reading about very much !

 

[Lidian]

Ack! I'm not first! But I'm here!

 

[solana131]

I'm here !!

This is one trip I'm looking forward to reading about very much !

Aww...Thanks! It was a great trip. Already trying to convince hubby to let me book another one, but don't think its gonna happen until maybe the end of 2013. I want to see the Christmas lights, so thinking November.

Ack! I'm not first! But I'm here!

Not first, but still first page Welcome Liddy!

 

[solana131]

I know lots of you like to get an early flight so you have time to skip over to a park that first day, but not us. My hubby does not like to travel at all, so throughout this whole trip and all the planning I tried to make this stress-free for him in the hopes that he would have fun and allow me to return again. So, with that in mind I booked an 11:45 flight. Now this seemed very relaxed for me, but I failed to realize that we still had a 2+ hour drive to get to this airport and since it was our first time flying out of MHT and our first time flying Southwest we should arrive a little early. So, we got up around 5 and got ready. We didn't leave the house until around 6:30, so it was still better than the normal 4am wakeup and rush out of the house we usually do when we fly.

MHT is an easy 2 hour drive from our house and we found the airport to be a nice change from BOS. Sometimes we fly out of Portland, ME but it is getting harder and harder to find direct flights with them, so we went to MHT this time. The airport at Manchester is a little bigger than ours at PWM, but much smaller than Boston, so it was nice. Southwest's boarding procedure is hectic and confusing, but we made it through and since I paid extra for "early bird boarding" we were among the first group to board. Soon we were settled in our seats for our 3 1/2 hr flight to MCO.

We usually fly Airtran and these seats felt like they had a little more legroom. We were just ahead of the wing with the engine right out my window, but it wasn't too bad. Bradey is so good about flying. He is 5 and has flown 7 times, so he is a old pro now. We bought food at the airport to have on the plane and he was eating as we took off so his ears didn't hurt. He and Daddy watched a movie and read my Kindle and before we knew it we were there. I don't remember the last time I flew into MCO, so the little monorail thingy was fun for all of us. I asked Bill to take a pic of me and Bradey and he said "already?" I said "yep, and if you are complaining about pictures already this is going to be a long week, so get used to it"

This is my "Get Used To It" look

We did take advantage of the luggage service and that was so incredibly nice to not have to rush down to the baggage claim and wait for the bags. We took our time and visited the restrooms and looked around at the cool airport. Then we made our way down and across the whole length of the lower level and found the ME area. I thought we would have to "Check in" there at a desk, but the guys at the front of the lines just looked at our packet and directed us to our line. We walked right through it and out to our bus that was waiting. There were only a few people already on it and we waited maybe 5 mins for a few more people. And we were on our way. I was very impressed with this because I have heard horror stories about having to wait in line for 45 mins for a bus and then wait another long time for the bus to get full before they were allowed to leave. Our bus had about a dozen people on it and they took off. I was so excited to be there I was all teary eyed on the stupid ME bus! I know, I'm a dork what can I say?

Looking at all the sites as we drove. Let me tell you, his momma was just as excited! Then we saw this.....

And this....

Up next....Arrival at the Poly. Did our checkin go smoothly? Maybe, maybe not.

 

[Moodyzblu]

We almost always fly out of BOS but have gone from Manchester and I agree it's small .. but a nice break from BOS.
I'm not usually an early morning traveler and prefer afternoon flights, but this next trip will be very early. But at least we get to FL nice and early.

 

[ddstratton]

I can't wait to hear about your trip, and how you liked the Poly. We're going to be staying at the Poly for part of our next trip -- although my family doesn't know it yet...

Sounds like a good start to you trip, so far!

 

[solana131]

We almost always fly out of BOS but have gone from Manchester and I agree it's small .. but a nice break from BOS.
I'm not usually an early morning traveler and prefer afternoon flights, but this next trip will be very early. But at least we get to FL nice and early.

I can see the benefit to getting in a park the first day, but we are always just so exhausted from flying and traveling to the airport that it would not likely be an option for us. Hopefully your room is ready if you get there early

I can't wait to hear about your trip, and how you liked the Poly. We're going to be staying at the Poly for part of our next trip -- although my family doesn't know it yet...

Sounds like a good start to you trip, so far!

WELCOME! We absolutely loved the Poly, but we have never stayed onsite before, so we really had nothing to compare it to. You'll see later on that we took a quick tour of Port Orleans and we loved that too, so I'm not sure we would pay the price for the Poly again. But it will always be a special place to us because of this wonderful trip!

 

[GrimGrinningSteph]

Following along! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Lidian]

I've never flown ... but so glad to hear you had a positive ME experience!

 

[vikkii19]

Joining in, looking forward to hearing how it went. We flew from MHT our last trip and really enjoyed it. Really easy to navigate and unlike some people, we didn't mind how Southwest does the boarding.